Expansible core for coils of rope or the like



July 7, 1953 T. BURKE, JR

EXPANSIBLE CORE FDR COILS OF ROPE OR THE LIKE Filed June 27, 1952 IINVENTOR. {y f? 1/0 1/5 z'fla z/rsj J.

Patented July 7, 1953 UNITED {STATES PATENT OFFICE I I i 2,644,650 gEXPANSIBLE CORE FOR COILS- OF ROPE I on 'rmi LIKE .StephenTQBu ke, Jiu,Astoria, N. assignor of twenty five per cent to Henry Bchr, Jamaica,

' Application June 27,1952, Serial .No. 296,017

' "7 Claims. '(01. 242-113) This invention relates to expansible coresfor balls of rope, and the main object .is to provide tangling of the.rope,-so-that to avoidthelabor of carefully undoing the rope. theremainder of the ball is discarded, which isofcourse wasteful. By makinguse of thesexpansible .core of this invention, as the hollow "coreenlarges during, unwinding of the rope the arms of the expansible.

core of this device spreadaccording lyand: thus constantly maintain :the,walls of-the rope ball erect, so that all of the rope may be unwound,

without danger of tangling;

The above broad as well as additional and more specificob-jects willheclarified; in the following description, wherein charactersotreference refer to like-numbered parts in theiaccompanying drawing.-It"is to be noted that the. drawingis intended solely for the purposeof illustration and that it is therefore. .neithen'desired nor intendedto limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the exact details of-construction shown. except insofar as they may be deemed essential tothe invention." I

Referring briefly to the'drawing, Y Fig. l is a perspective view-ofanexpansib-le rope core embodying the salient features of this invention.Fig. 2 is a sectional view. taken on the line 2- of Fig. 1 andincluding, in phantom, a small size.

ball of rope to which the expansible rope core has been applied. I 1

Fig. 3 is a sectional view 3-3 of Fig. 1. n

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line i4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of one of the pluralityof radially movable arms of the device.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view through modified form of one ofthe above-mentioned arms.

Fig. '7 is a similar sectional view through another modified form of oneof the said arms.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral taken on line 2 It]indicates the base of the expansible core, and the base may be made ofwood or any other suitable material, preferably square in conformation,as shown. The base 10 is provided with two intersecting grooves H at.right angles toeach other, either in the following manner or in anyother suitable manner. The base I!) may be com.

posed of a lower portion or layer l2 with an upper, portion or layer l3superimposed upon and secured to the lower portion,. as by means ofscrews l4. Grooves l5 are out or otherwise provided in the top of theportion 12, extending across'the same and intersecting each other atright angles.-

Similarly situated and similar but narrower slots IB are providedthrough the upper portion l3,

but the slots l6 terminate close to but spaced from the edges of theportion l3 thereby leaving stops,

ll at their ends.

Four arms [8 are provided, each having a widened tongue or base I}! atright angles to the lower end of thearm and registering slidably in thegroove 115, the Opposed edges of the superimposed slot [6, as is clearin Fig. 4, providing overhangs to prevent the tongue l9 from rising outof the groove l5. One of the arm tongues I9 is slidablejin eaohof thefour half-grooves I6 thus provided by the intersection of the groovesl6, and, consequently, the four arms I8 are radially slidable withrespect to an imaginary center line at ri ht angles to the base i 9through the center thereof.

Resilient means is provided for normally urg-- ing the arms l8 outwardfrom the-center line above-mentioned, asfollows. At at least one po.-.sition, and preferably at two levels and perhaps;

even more, a cross-shaped collapsible coiled spring leaf unit isprovided. This unit consistsv of a central cross-shaped housing 2!having four cylindrical tubular legs 22 in each of which is anchored thebase of a normally extended helical spiral spring leaf 23 whose outerend is of course reduced and is hollow. Each such spring 23 is obviouslyadapted to be compressed along its axis to greatly reduce the axiallength thereof. At

a common horizontal level, each arm lElhas secured on its inner side, asby welding, ahead 24 of a pin 25, the latter registering in the hollowextremity of the spring 23.

In the example illustrated in the' drawing, two

normally has a hollow core 21 which is widened near the top and near thebottom, substantially as shown. With the ball mounted on the base andthe arms l8 positioned in the hollow core, the force of the springs 23tends to flex the upper and lower ends of the arms 18 into theconformation of the hollow core of the ball, so that continuously as therope is unwound and the core enlarges, the arms l8 tend to move againstthe wall of the hollow core in conformity with the shape and sizethereof. Thus, as the unwinding rope enlarges the hollow core the armsI8 maintain themselves as an expanding core inside the ball, to maintainthe ball and to facilitate unwinding to nearly the very end of the rope.

For the case where the expanding core is to b used on the larger, say asixty-pound, ball of rope, the arms l8 may be made of wood or otherstiff material, since the cores of such balls, not shown, aresubstantially cylindrical.

A modified form of arm 18 may be provided, as illustrated in Fig. 5,wherein, in addition to the tongue I9 extending outward from the base ofthe arm a second similar tongue [9a is provided extending in theopposite direction. With this construction the foot of the arm has anenlarged and better balanced base slidable in th groove ll.

Fig. 6 shows, in exaggerated form, and in cross-section, how an arm I8bwhich is otherwise similar to the arms l8, may be curved to enhance theslidability of the rope around the outer surface of the arm duringunwinding from the expansible core.

Fig. '7 shows an enlarged cross-section of the arm 18 to bring out therounded edges of the arms, to prevent gripping or tearing of the fibersof the rope on the arms.

Further, the floors of the grooves II, that is, of the grooves l in thelower base member [3, may 'be lined with a metal plate or sheet, notshown, if desired, also to enhance the slidability of the tongues [9.

Obviously, structure may be made without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention.

I claim:

1. An expansible core for a coil or ball of rope or the like having anaxial passage therethrough and adapted to be unwound in a radialdirection outward from said passage, comprising a base having tworelatively long intersecting grooves in the top thereof intersecting atthe center of the base thereby providing four relatively short groovesextending outward from the point of intersection, each of said shortgrooves having a tongue slidably mounted therein, each of said tongueshaving a substantially upright arm extending therefrom thereby providingfour upright arms slidable through their respective tongues in saidgrooves and providing two pairs of mutually opposed upright arms, and atleast one set of normally extended collapsible springs positioned in ahorizontal \plane between said other modifications in form orarms, theouter extremities of said springs being attached to said arms, the innerextremities of said springs having a member joining said innerextremities thereto, said coil being adapted to be mounted on said basewith said springs compressed and said arms passing through said axialpassage of the coil and urged by said springs against the walls of saidpassage.

2.'The expansible core set forth in claim 1, said arms being made ofresilient material and having a greater width than thickness, the saidaxial passage having varying diameters at different longitudinalpositions thereof whence at a given longitudinal position the diameterof the passage is at a maximum, said lane lying in the plane of saidmaximum diameter of the passage, said springs urging said arms radiallyoutward to bend the arms to conform to the contour of said passage atsaid longitudinal position.

3. The expansible core set forth in claim 1, said arms being made ofresilient material and having a greater width than thickness, saidsprings comprising helical spiral spring leaves having a conical passagetherethrough, said member having tubular sockets extending therefrom,each of said sockets being aligned with one of said conical passages andhaving one end of one of said spring leave mounted therein, each of saidarms having a pin extending at right angles from the inner side thereofand registering in the outer end of one of said conical passages.

4. Th expansible core set forth in claim 1, said grooves having theupper edges thereof narrower than the floors thereof thereby providinglongitudinal overhangs along the tops of the grooves, said tongueshaving a width greater than the width of said narrower upper edges ofthe grooves.

5. The expansible core set forth in claim 1, said tongues extending fromone side of said arms.

6. The expansible core set forth in claim 1, each of said tongues havingthe said arm thereof extending upward therefrom intermediate the lengthof; the tongue.

'7. The expansible core set forth in claim 1,

said arms being formed of non-resilient material.

STEPHEN T. BURKE, J's.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 584,264 Eider June 8, 1897 701,317 English June 3, 19021,354,565 James Oct. 5, 1920 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country I Date54,318 Denmark Feb. 14, 1938 175,725 Great Britain Feb. 17, 1922 209,961Switzerland Aug. 16, 1940

